[ad_pod ]
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
West Ham United have loaned Josh Cullen to Charlton Athletic, the club have confirmed.
What’s the word?
The midfielder spent the 2017/18 campaign on loan at the Addicks, helping the club win promotion to the Championship from League One.
The 23-year-old has struggled to make an impact in east London, however, and has made a total of just nine senior appearances for the Irons.
He will now aim to play regularly under Lee Bowyer as Charlton look to make an impact in the second-tier following their victory in the 2018/19 play-offs.
[ad_pod ]
The death knell
Cullen’s West Ham career seems as good as over.
His contract expires at the end of the season and he will not even have the chance to earn a new one under Manuel Pellegrini’s tutelage.
And that is despite the club failing to buy a defensive midfielder in the summer transfer window; Declan Rice, Mark Noble and Carlos Sanchez are the only options in the position.
That there was no desire to keep him around – sources say that the club were happy to sanction this move – suggests that he may well be saying goodbye permanently at the end of the season.
It remains to be seen if his next destination will be The Valley, but it seems incredibly unlikely that he will return to the London Stadium.
[ad_pod ]
